Killebrew Root Beer is a root beer beverage produced with the endorsement of former Minnesota Twins baseball player Harmon Killebrew and currently sold by RJM Distributing.[1] The product is sold in 12 fl-oz glass bottles and tallboy 16 fl-oz cans covered in flat retro branding featuring a baseball diamond, a reproduction of Killebrew's signature, his retired number 3, a vertical stripe pattern reminiscent of Twins uniforms during his time playing, "Old-Fashioned" branding,[2] and the slogan, "With the Hall of Fame Taste", alluding to Killebrew's 1984 induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.[3] The company also sells a cream soda under similar branding.[1]
According to the 2003 site, the idea of launching a root beer brand can be traced back to 1984, when Harmon Killebrew supposedly received a "commemorative soda can" for being entered into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His son, Ken Killebrew, then "heard him joke, 'We ought to put a brew in this and sell it!'". The old website also claims that Ken started producing the beverage in 1993 based on "an old family recipe for root beer".[13]
Later, Killebrew Root Beer was absorbed into RJM Distributing, based in Ramsey, Minnesota.[3] Cold Spring Brewing Company was sold to a private equity firm in 2017 called Brynwood Partners.[14] The branding relationship with RJM is handled by Ken Killebrew,[15] especially now after his father's death in 2011.[2][6]
In 2015, RJM Distributing ran a contest campaign to cross-promote the creation of a Harmon Killebrew US postage stamp by offering a free year of root beer.[7]